The Amp Hour Electronics Podcast

This is a crossover episode with The Contextual Electronics podcast (also made by Chris). There is a video version of this podcast available as well.

Interested in keeping up with The CE Podcast? Search or subscribe on the iTunes page, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:05 What Zack is building (a computer)
• 2:40 A water cooled oscilloscope
• 3:40 How Zack got started
• 4:40 Hackaday article
• 5:20 Bluetooth heads up display
• 5:40 Hoboken Hackerspace
• 7:15 NYC electronics scene
• 8:30 Working with artists
• 10:00 Working on the set of Mr Robot
• 11:05 Doing a first run prototype for a startup
• 13:10 Building skills in high pressure environments and on consulting jobs
• 17:45 Working on deadlines
• 19:10 How many projects are in a single video?
• 20:45 Building subassemblies
• 21:30 Building projects “backwards” (outside in)
• 23:00 Not thinking your idea is the last good idea you’ll ever have
• 24:15 The prototyping mindset
• 27:00 Ranking risk in a project
• 29:15 Usability in wearable projects
• 31:30 “The role of most prototypes is to try to kill the idea”
• 33:30 What makes people want to buy a prototype?
• 35:45 Minimizing features in any one prototype / test
• 36:30 Consumer products should be shown to thousands before going to market
• 38:00 YouTubers’ battle for attention (check out Voidstar Lab to see all of Zack’s videos)
• 41:00 YouTube theories
• 44:45 Zack’s persona
• 47:00 Filming b-roll to keep things interesting
• 51:00 YouTube comment positivity
• 52:25 Maker Twitter
• 54:00 Full time YouTube
• 54:20 Changes in the hardware space since 2012
• 56:40 Prototyping tools
• 58:30 “The Maker Movement”
• 59:25 Working for industrial clients
• 1:01:40 Focusing on the technology vs the purpose of the technology
• 1:03:30 Building a project because you want the thing (output)
• 1:05:30 Technology being used to move the world forward
• 1:07:15 What will Zack build in the future?
• 1:09:40 The Cyberdeck
• 1:12:15 Cyberdeck cafe Discord
• 1:13:10 Building on a stream vs on a video (streams happen on Zack’s Patreon every Monday and Friday)
• 1:14:40 Previously wanting to go into game design
• 1:16:30 Providing a representation of what people think the process is
• 1:17:20 People think IronMan is reality
• 1:18:20 Bringing people into the field
• 1:20:25 “Finish more projects”
• 1:23:30 Going beyond the getting started projects
• 1:26:20 People genuinely interested in a topic will skip beginner classes
• 1:27:35 Engineering is intrinsically solitary
• 1:29:30 Trying to figure out gender discrepancies in making
• 1:31:05 “What’s it like to put yourself out there?”
• 1:32:30 Putting yourself out there will help you find more positive feedback
• 1:35:05 Building community
• 1:37:00 Finding Zack’s work and joining his community
  • Patreon
  • YouTube
  • Discord
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
• 1:38:40 Conclusion